I Can't Leave Them
by Ariel Marina
Summary: Buffy Summers died saving the world again, but she can't leave her friends, family and the new slayers behind. Shame two Grim Reapers won't let her stay. xover with Dead Like Me. one shot


Enjoy my new story. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or Dead Like Me. If I did, I wouldn't be here writing this.

Buffy ran as fast as she could. She had to get out of Sunnydale before it collapsed into the crater it was in the process of turning into. She had been stuck in Sunnyhell for seven years; the last thing she wanted was to be stuck there for an eternity as a dead slayer.

She looked down from the building she was on and saw the school bus leaving, speeding away from her to avoid falling into the collapsing Hellmouth, her friends trying to stay safe. She couldn't say the same for Spike and Anya, and some of the newly made slayers, but she was happy to know that they would be alive for another day.

Buffy was so busy running she didn't feel a hand touching her shoulder as she ran off one roof and landed on another. The longest living slayer didn't look back, but she knew the crater was forming itself faster and faster. Her slayer instincts were telling her that, and she didn't want to see how close she was to death at every step she took.

Buffy leaped from another rooftop, landing on another. The heel from her shoe broke, and the slayer lost her footing. She fell to the concrete, and felt herself fall into the crater. The blond grabbed on to anything she could get her hands on, trying to keep herself from falling, but it just fell with her. She closed her eyes.

The slayer waited for the impact that never came. Instead, she opened her eyes to see an older man around Giles' age and a girl no older then Dawn standing before her. What the hell was going on?

"Who are you?" asked Buffy.

"I'm Rube, and this is George," replied the man.

Buffy looked at the girl. "Your name is George?"

"Short for Georgia," she said.

"Ah. Why are you here?"

""It was time for you to die. Permanently. You did a lot of good for this world Buffy. It's time for you to go where you belong." Rube looked at her with a smile. He and George were around Buffy long enough to know what happened in the final battle with the First.

"But my friends…"

"Are going to be okay. You saved them. Trust that," interrupted George.

"Dawn…"

"Has them to lean on for support. You taught her well, Buffy. She'll keep training and fighting, to make you proud," continued Rube.

"How do you know that?"

"We're grim reapers. We're meant to know these things." Buffy looked at Rube as if he had grown ten heads.

"Grim Reapers? Great. Do I slay you? Or do I let you guys live? I've never encountered a Grim Reaper before. Honestly, I pictured you guys looking a little more like the Gentleman, then normal people."

"We're dead. You can't kill us. If you could, believe me, Rube would have loved to killed me quite a few times while I was training."

"Really? When did you die?"

"Earlier this year. I was hit in the head."

"With what?"

"A toilet seat falling out of the space station."

"Really?" Buffy tried hard not to laugh at the girl's embarrassment.

"Unfortunately. But you have to move on," George got the three dead people back on track. "You have to let go of the people you care about and…"

"Let them go? I can't let my family and friends go. They're my responsibility! They're my reason for living!"

"You died Buffy. You were supposed to stay dead after fighting the Master when you were sixteen. You've had six years of borrowed time, to protect and save the ones who brought you back to life. Now that the Hellmouth is gone, there's no way you can stay alive." Rube looked at the girl in sympathy.

"I can't leave them," said Buffy, tears coming to her eyes. "After everything we've gone through together, I can't leave them."

"You have no other choice. You can't stay alive. You have to go to Heaven. It's where you belong. You saved the world, again, it's time for you to rest. Let them live full and happy lives," Rube continued, George completely forgotten.

"The slayers…"

"Will be trained well and will have their turn to save the world. Let the slayers have their shot at being a good slayer. Let Faith show that she's not the screw-up she thinks she is. Give the slayers a chance to make you proud of them."

"I can't." Buffy said, the tears now rolling down her cheeks. Her resolve was failing. She knew they weren't going to let her go back to her life.

"Yes you can. It's time to rest, Buffy." A windy bright light showed up behind the slayer. "Your mom's waiting for you. Go to her Buffy. She's waited a long time to see you again."

Buffy turned to the light and started walking towards it. She stopped, looked back and gave Rube and George a small smile. "Thank you."

The Grim Reapers smiled at the slayer, and waved good-bye. Finally, Buffy turned to the light again, and walked into it. She felt the complete peace she felt two years earlier. She went in her mother's waiting arms, hugging her tightly. The light began to fade, bringing Buffy and Joyce to where they both belonged, and finally, disappeared altogether.

George looked at Rube, who held a sad smile on his face. "How did you know all that stuff about her?"

"I was given more information on her, so that we can convince her to let go of the world she knew and go to her Heaven. She wouldn't have gone without us convincing her."

"She cares about the world that much?" asked George.

"Buffy Summers was one in a million George. No one will ever be like her. Like her friends wrote on her tombstone after she sacrificed herself to save her sister, she saved the world a lot. There will only ever be one Buffy Summers, and she'll be remembered, all around the world, forever."

Hope you enjoyed. Review please.


End file.
